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The Concept of Power Essay

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The concept of power is present within various realms of all organizations. Power, however, is not something that should necessarily be looked at negatively. There are justifiable types of power that may be important to criminal justice organizations. The main role of power in criminal justice administration should be to gain compliance from subordinates of all types, and turn that power over time into acceptable forms of authority (Stojkovic et al., 2008). It is for this reason that power is an important attribute in criminal justice agencies. It is important as a criminal justice manager, and agency as a whole, to have legitimate power. Power that is not coercive and works for the good of the organization is beneficial in gathering …show more content…

Essay 2: Max Weber’s study of authority gave birth to his division and classification of three types of authority. These classifications of authority are often used in various roles in criminal justice administrations. While Weber believed that power and authority are decidedly different concepts, the two can be used in conjunction, and often are used for categorization within criminal justice agencies. Traditional, charismatic, and legal authorities are all well-defined in the use of authority by criminal justice administrations. Traditional authority is leadership that is based on the historical customs of a society or group. Within an organization, traditional authority is based on the precedented methods of operation that have changed little over time (Stojkovic et al., 2008). In relation to the criminal justice administration, one may view traditional authority in the form of commanding power of a warden within a corrections system. The warden is the head of the hierarchy and operates simply in the way that a warden always has operated. In respect to traditional authority, things do not change because procedures are based on customs and merely continue as they always have. Weber’s second type of influence is charismatic authority. Charismatic authority is characterized by a leader with rare personal features that attract others to them. Charismatic leaders have qualities that are powerful and challenging

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